Studio ends Wallace and Gromit partnership

Hollywood studio giant DreamWorks Animation is ending its partnership with the creators of Wallace and Gromit.

Speculation that the five-film deal with Aardman Animations could be headed for an early demise was rife last year after DreamWorks said it expected to lose money on the Bristol-based outfit's latest film, Flushed Away.

The size of the writedown was not revealed, but analysts suggested it could be more than £50 million.

The computer animated movie, about a pampered rat who is swept into a world of tough sewer rodents, cost DreamWorks 142.9 million dollars (£73 million) to make and took just 50 million dollars (£25 million) at the box office.

It also took a writedown on Aardman's previous offering, Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, even though that picture enjoyed huge critical success and won an Oscar for best animated film.

DreamWorks chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said: "While I will always be a fan and an admirer of Aardman's work, our different business goals no longer support each other."

His studio was now focused on producing two computer animated movies a year, and had a full slate until 2010, he added.

"We've enjoyed a hugely successful and creative relationship with Jeffrey and DreamWorks Animation, but both companies are aware that our ambitions have moved apart, and it feels like the right time to move on," Aardman co-owners Peter Lord and David Sproxton said in a statement.

"Aardman has an ambitious slate of feature film projects in development and we will announce our future production and distribution plans shortly."

Katzenberg added: "I am proud of the work we have created together and also greatly admire Aardman's passion and expertise for stop motion filmmaking and brilliant storytelling."

The two companies struck a five-picture distribution deal in 1999, but it allowed DreamWorks to opt out after the second film was delivered.

The first of three films they collaborated on was 2000's Chicken Run. DreamWorks had previously announced production of another Aardman movie, Crood Awakening, co-written by John Cleese.

Aardman spokesman Arthur Sheriff insisted there was no animosity in the split, which had been under discussion for six to nine months.

The crux of the problem was that DreamWorks was focusing on computer animated films, while Aardman wanted to continue making its traditional "claymation" movies as well.

"This is the most amicable split that you could ever imagine," Mr Sheriff said. "But Jeffrey has decided that the DreamWorks business plan is about two CG films a year."

He said the recent Aardman films' box office troubles had "not really" been a factor."We always knew that America would be a hard task for us - we're a very English company," Mr Sheriff said.

"We embrace the international market but we think part of our strength is our English sense of humour and we want to continue with that."

He said Aardman was talking to a number of parties about production and distribution deals and would be and would be announcing its plans in the coming weeks and months. "We're extremely optimistic about what we're doing," he said.

An American version of Aardman's Creature Comforts series is set to air in the spring. US network CBS ordered six 30 minute episodes of the cute ITV1 hit."We love America, and by God we will crack America," Mr Sheriff said.